Schweitzer rolled to an easy win over John Vincent in the two-way Democratic primary for governor, while Bob Brown held a steady lead over Pat Davison in the four-way Republican governor's race.
With 51 percent of the vote or 450 of the 875 precincts counted, Schweitzer had 36,072 votes or 72 percent of the vote, while Vincent, a Gallatin County commissioner, had 14,188 votes ,or 28 percent, in the unofficial Associated Press vote tally. The AP declared Schweitzer the winner at 8:56 p.m. or less than an hour after the polls closed.
Schweitzer celebrated his victory at a Montana Democratic Party gathering in Helena.
Asked to what he owed his big victory, Schweitzer said, "I've been in all 56 counties, been in every community listening to folks. We're just responding to what we're hearing. People want leadership - leadership that will lower the cost of the health care, leadership that will attract invest to attract higher paying jobs and leadership that will invest in technology education."
Schweitzer said people from all over Montana tell him there are lots of good ideas and many good legislators.
"But we need leadership that will bring Republicans and Democrats back together again in Montana," he said over the shouts of cheering supporters.
A pleased Brown stood outside his secretary of state's office in the Capitol after conducting media interviews as he appeared headed for a victory in the Republican primary.
"I'm really encouraged," Brown said. "It's a marathon and you work hard and you meet as many people as you can."
He attributed his lead to his "wonderful network of friends," including his old legislative network, his supporters from his legislative and secretary of state races and his working with educators in 1998 when he headed up the successful six-mill university system levy campaign across the state.
He believed the controversy over whether Davison's running mate, Dave Mihalic, met the residency requirement helped him among informed electors.
Brown was asked to look ahead to his likely fall race against Schweitzer.
"Schweitzer is a gifted showman," Brown said. "He has a talent for finding the hot buttons. He is a skillful campaigner. I respect him greatly as an adversary. I will work hard to defeat him."
Asked how he and Schweitzer differ, Brown cited his own experience, his predictability, his stability and his reliability.
"I'm a known quantity," he said. "I'm someone Montana people have and re-elected over a number of years. I have a record."
Davison said after 11 p.m. he had called Brown and congratulated him on his victory and pledged to help him defeat Schweitzer in the general election.
"It was a good fight and a good race," Davison said.
He said the three conservatives - Keating, Miller and him - split the Republican primary vote "pretty well," leaving Brown with the 35 percent he needed to win.
On the Democratic side, Vincent attributed Schweitzer's win and his loss to the fact that "Brian is a heck of a campaigner and he's been campaigning since the beginning of his Senate campaign in 2000. He built up a good foundation of support, he never really let up and established great name recognition."
Despite the loss, Vincent said he's glad he entered the Democratic primary because he believes in addressing specific issues. Vincent talked extensively about the state's budget problems and his proposed solutions.
"I'm proud of that," he said. "I gave it my best shot."
He said he wants to sit down and visit which Schweitzer in the coming days, but will help in any way he can during the general election race. He said Democrats typically unite after a primary and support the winning candidate.
All eyes were on the Republican race where a poll two weeks ago showed Brown and Davison locked in a statistical dead heat.
Brown and Davison have been locked in a particularly nasty race for the Republican nomination, with the two candidates or their supporters calling each other names and filing election complaints against each other. Miller, however, has taken pride in not criticizing other candidates and Keating has taken few shots at his GOP rivals.
Davison hammered Brown for months for being the lone Republican for governor refusing to sign a no-new-taxes pledge. Brown said he doesn't believe Montana can tax its way to prosperity, but he doesn't want to sign a promise he isn't sure he can keep in these challenging fiscal times.
Davison, spending more than $200,000 of his money on broadcast ads, attacked Brown for being "too liberal on taxes" and for voting for 73 tax increases as a legislator tenure, including a sales tax, which Davison said he opposed. Brown fired back, accusing Davison of lying because the two men had served on the same political committee in 1993 promoting a sales tax advocated by Racicot that voters rejected.
A Brown supporter filed a complaint contending that Davison's running mate, Mihalic, of Missoula, doesn't meet the state's two-year residency requirement for candidates for governor and lieutenant governor. The political practices commissioner found Mihalic ineligible to serve as lieutenant governor, but said she lacks the authority to remove him from ballot.
Davison's campaign then filed an ethics complaint against Brown, accusing him of improperly spending taxpayer money on public service television ads that in some cases starred him to promote a new federal voting law. The commissioner rejected this complaint.
As the GOP race lurched to a close, some Davison supporters tried to get Keating to drop out of the race and back their man, but declined.
An opinion by the Legislature's chief lawyer suggested, without mentioning names, that if Mihalic isn't eligible to serve as lieutenant governor, Davison could be disqualified as well. That left this question hanging over Davison and Mihalic as the primary drew close.
On the Democratic side, Vincent jumped in the race in mid-February, while Schweitzer has been officially campaigning for nearly 18 months but really never stopped traveling around the state to meet voters and speak at groups after he lost the 2000 U.S. Senate race to Republican incumbent Conrad Burns.
Vincent criticized Schweitzer for what he said was taking one stand on an issue on one day in one city and a different stand in another city later in the week. Vincent said his positions on issues Monday would be the same as they were Friday.
Schweitzer, Vincent said, lacked the legislative experience that a governor needs to pass laws.
Although he generally refrained form criticizing Vincent, Schweitzer said there are all different kinds of leadership. He said he and his Republican running mate, John Bohlinger, have more than 60 years of small business experience between them and have signed both sides of a paycheck.
Schweitzer said Montana needs aggressive leadership and has advocated a "Grow Montana Plan" to promote economic development, increase higher paying jobs, provide health care and world-class education.
Brown, 56, is a former teacher who served 26 years in the Montana Legislature, including two years as president of the Senate. He later worked as lobbyist and worked as a government relations representative for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Brown was elected secretary of state in 2000, defeating another former long-time legislator, Democrat Hal Harper of Helena.
Davison, 47, hasn't run for office before, but helped raise campaign money for former Gov. Marc Racicot and other top Republicans. Before becoming a business consultant in Billings, Davison worked as a certified public accountant for a Big Eight accounting firm and later as a stock broker. He served on the state Board of Regents for seven years, including two as chairman, in the Racicot administration.
Keating, 75, is a oil landman from Billings who served 20 years in the Montana Senate where he sought to make it easier for oil, gas and mining interests to develop projects and to lower property taxes on business equipment. His theme during the race called for natural resource development: "All wealth comes from the earth" He was an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor in 2000.
Miller, 47, served eight years in the Montana Senate from Laurel as the first Republican elected from the blue-collar city. The furniture store owner also was chairman of the Montana Republican Party from 2001 to 2003. This is his first race for statewide office. Miller also supported natural resource development but called for a more diversified Montana economy. After a district judge ruled that Montana's school funding system was unconstitutionally inadequate, Miller called for impeaching or recalling the judge for interfering in what should be a legislative decision.
On the Democratic side, Schweitzer, 48, is a farmer making his second race for public office. He narrowly lost an effort in 2000 to unseat Republican Burns for the U.S. Senate. Schweitzer drew national attention for taking busloads of Montana seniors across the border into Canada where they could buy prescription drugs cheaper.
Vincent, 61, is a retired school teacher from Bozeman who serves on the Gallatin County Commission after a stint on the Bozeman City Commission, where he was the city's mayor. Vincent served eight terms in the Montana House of Representatives and was its presiding officer or speaker in 1985 and 1989. This is his first run for statewide office.
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